Pi-hole vs. Full Web Filter
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I keep hearing great things about using Pi-Hole (both here and from a colleague). But here's what I want to know - why use Pi-Hole instead of a full-blown web filter at the house? For those who are using it, what made you go Pi-Hole instead of the free home edition of Sophos, for example?
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PiHole is a DNS filter that comes preloaded with a bunch of lists to block all of the spammy websites. It's open source and doesn't require more than 1gb 1core vm or a Raspberry Pi.
It's simple to maintain and is simple to rebuild if you ever needed to. The interface is clean, straightforward to use and not overly complex.
Free editions of anything make me wary; Since what am I missing by not paying? But open source isn't a Free edition, it's just open source. So doesn't fall into the same trap.
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@NetworkNerd said in Pi-hole vs. Full Web Filter:
I keep hearing great things about using Pi-Hole (both here and from a colleague). But here's what I want to know - why use Pi-Hole instead of a full-blown web filter at the house? For those who are using it, what made you go Pi-Hole instead of the free home edition of Sophos, for example?
Because Sophos is not a "web filter" it is a UTM.
Because Pi-Hole is not a "web filter" it is a DNS based content blocker based originally on killing ad networks.They are not the same thing.
UTM in general are a complete waste of time and resources for almost everyone.
DNS content blocking of ad networks is an amazingly effective tool for your casual surfing.
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For me Pi-Hole has been sufficient as I did not have the hardware to run Untangle or Sophos Home, while I can run Pi-hole on 10 GB of Storage and 1 GB of RAM.
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@NetworkNerd said in Pi-hole vs. Full Web Filter:
I keep hearing great things about using Pi-Hole (both here and from a colleague). But here's what I want to know - why use Pi-Hole instead of a full-blown web filter at the house? For those who are using it, what made you go Pi-Hole instead of the free home edition of Sophos, for example?
I run Sophos XG at home and after installing Pi-Hole I found Pi-Hole to be way more effective at blocking ads than Sophos XG ever was.
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@dbeato said in Pi-hole vs. Full Web Filter:
For me Pi-Hole has been sufficient as I did not have the hardware to run Untangle or Sophos Home, while I can run Pi-hole on 10 GB of Storage and 1 GB of RAM.
I feel like mine is on even less.
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@NashBrydges said in Pi-hole vs. Full Web Filter:
@NetworkNerd said in Pi-hole vs. Full Web Filter:
I keep hearing great things about using Pi-Hole (both here and from a colleague). But here's what I want to know - why use Pi-Hole instead of a full-blown web filter at the house? For those who are using it, what made you go Pi-Hole instead of the free home edition of Sophos, for example?
I run Sophos XG at home and after installing Pi-Hole I found Pi-Hole to be way more effective at blocking ads than Sophos XG ever was.
Wow, that's awesome.
I think, and this is purely speculation, that the Pi-Hole is even blocking some of my Hulu ads.
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@DustinB3403 said in Pi-hole vs. Full Web Filter:
s. It's open source and doesn't require more than 1gb 1core vm or a Raspberry Pi.
Don't even need half of that!
# free -m total used free shared buff/cache available Mem: 481 212 40 0 228 256 Swap: 511 103 408 -
@NetworkNerd said in Pi-hole vs. Full Web Filter:
For those who are using it, what made you go Pi-Hole instead of the free home edition of Sophos, for example?
Beyond the simplicity and control, and the open source nature, mine is also hosted and used by multiple locations. My house uses it, my dad uses it, we have clients that use it. That one Pi-Hole can be used by many locations is really nice.
Also, something like a Pi-Hole accelerates network traffic. Web filters normally slow it. So we use less bandwidth and have the same latency as before. Things just go faster. Web filters may or may not lower bandwidth, but always increase latency.
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@scottalanmiller said in Pi-hole vs. Full Web Filter:
@dbeato said in Pi-hole vs. Full Web Filter:
For me Pi-Hole has been sufficient as I did not have the hardware to run Untangle or Sophos Home, while I can run Pi-hole on 10 GB of Storage and 1 GB of RAM.
I feel like mine is on even less.
Yeah you can easily use it with 512 MB RAM.
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@dbeato said in Pi-hole vs. Full Web Filter:
@scottalanmiller said in Pi-hole vs. Full Web Filter:
@dbeato said in Pi-hole vs. Full Web Filter:
For me Pi-Hole has been sufficient as I did not have the hardware to run Untangle or Sophos Home, while I can run Pi-hole on 10 GB of Storage and 1 GB of RAM.
I feel like mine is on even less.
Yeah you can easily use it with 512 MB RAM.
I bet 380MB would do okay.
